Special effects ("effects") commonly are added to graphical images in a motion picture by means of conventional graphical editing application programs such as, for example, ADOBE PREMERE.TM., available from Adobe Systems Incorporated of San Jose, Calif. Such programs may include known effects such as, for example, zooming, rotating, and trimming. Edited motion pictures often may be previewed in a playback window on the computer system.
The functionality provided by conventional graphical editing programs, however, typically requires extensive utilization of the central processing unit and random access memory within the computer system. More particularly, the central processing unit performs all of the calculations required to apply effects to graphical images. After these calculations are completed by the central processor, the edited graphical image may be directed to a graphics accelerator for display on a display device. One such graphics accelerator is the REALIZM.TM. video card, available from Intergraph Corporation of Huntsville, Ala. Such graphics accelerator utilizes the commonly known OPENGL.TM. application program interface (available from Silicon Graphics, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.) to display the edited graphical image. For more information relating to OPENGL.TM., See, for example, Inside OLE, two-dimensional. Ed., by Kraig Brockschmidt (Microsoft press 1995); The OPENGL Technical Library, which contains The OPENGL Programming Guide (ISBN: 0-201-63276-4), and The OPENGL Reference Manual (ISBN: 0-201-46140-4), by the OPENGL Architecture Review Board; The OPENGL Graphics System: A Specification, Version 1.0 et seq., by Silicon Graphics, Inc. (1992); Microsoft OPENGL Installable Client Driver Specification, Microsoft Corporation; Computer Graphics Principles and Practice, by Foley van Dam (Addison-Wesley 1996); OPENGL Programming Guide, (ISBN: 0-201-46138-2), by the OPENGL Architecture Review Board. These related documents are incorporated herein, in their entireties, by reference.
Utilizing the central processing unit for performing such calculations, however, undesirably slows computer system performance. The art has responded to this problem by providing one or more dedicated co-processors for performing the necessary calculations. Although typically more efficient than utilizing the central processing unit, co-processors are expensive, thus increasing the cost of editing graphical images with such graphical image editing programs. Moreover, co-processors typically are difficult to program.